DeFi United Unveils Technical Plan to Restore rsETH Backing After KelpDAO Exploit

DeFi United, a coalition of ecosystem participants led by Aave service providers, has released a technical implementation plan to restore rsETH backing. The plan comes after a major exploit on April 18, 2026. Hackers likely associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group stole approximately $292 million (116,500 rsETH) from KelpDAO’s LayerZero bridge. DeFi United Releases Technical Roadmap to Make rsETH Whole In a detailed post, the team said seven wallets tied to the exploiter still hold active rsETH-backed positions on Aave and Compound. This totals around 107,000 of the 116,500 rsETH originally stolen. Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens The recovery plan has two goals: restoring rsETH’s backing and recovering the ~107,000 rsETH in excess collateral. To restore the backing, rsETH must match its nominal Kelp exchange ratio of 1.07 ETH. This will be done via the DeFi United initiative. It has already lined up the ETH commitments needed to bring affected systems back online. Final execution depends on governance approvals, execution timelines, and signed definitive agreements. After the plan’s execution, the backing will be fully restored by depositing ETH into the bridge lockbox (RSETH_OFTAdapter 0x85d456b2…98ef3). “The restoration process involves converting the committed ETH into rsETH in tranches, which will then be transferred to the affected lockbox contract, allowing the bridge to securely resume full operation,” the blog read. The plan also clears the eight affected positions on Aave’s Ethereum Core and Arbitrum markets. This step is necessary to recover roughly 13,000 ETH and resolve the related impairment. The blog stated that the initiative seeks to restore rsETH backing without socializing losses, though several risks remain. Deployment still depends on finalized agreements and governance approvals. Closing the impacted positions also requires proposals to pass on Ethereum and Arbitrum, and attacker interference could trigger extra liquida...